Tuesday Takeaways

What we learned from the Jaguars 51-16 thrashing of the Indianapolis Colts and what to look for moving forward.

By Jordan de Lugo

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The Jaguars offense is really, really good. They scored a regular season franchise record 51 points against the Colts this week. Individually, Blake Bortles scored 4 more touchdowns and extended his franchise single season record for touchdown passes to 30, while Allen Hurns, Allen Robinson, and Julius Thomas all reached the end zone — giving the spectacular receiving trio a total of 25 receiving touchdowns on the season. In addition to their aerial spectacle, the Jaguars offense was also able to dominate on the ground averaging 5.3 yards per carry on the day. T.J. Yeldon and Denard Robinson were both highly impressive. The offense has now scored 90 points in their last two contests and is in for a treat next week as they face a Falcons’ defense that has been torched in recent weeks.
 While the offense has been showing off their talent for the majority of the season, the defense has been struggling in pass coverage, mostly due to what has been one of the worst pass rushes in the league. That changed on Sunday against the Colts -- as the Jaguars recored 3 sacks, an interception, and a fumble recovery for a touchdown. Andre Branch and Chris Clemons showed up for the first time in a long time. This strong performance was likely due to an immobile Matt Hasselbeck and a poor offensive line rather than a change in the Jaguars’ defensive ineptitude. 

The Jason Myers Saga continues. Myers missed another extra point this week, adding to what has been perhaps the most confusing season by any Jaguar in the teams’ history. Myers has been stellar at field goals for most of the season, but has been the absolute worst when it comes to extra points attempts. It is too late in the season to make a change now, but during the offseason the Jaguars will have to decide if they think they can help cure Myers’ extra points woes or if they need to go in another direction. 

Rashad Greene will be a corner stone of this team’s success for years to come. Greene is developing as a slot receiver, but his true value lies on special teams where he is quickly turning into one of the most explosive punt return specialists in football. Against the Colts he scored his first punt return touchdown of the season, and he is now averaging over 20 yards per punt return, which gives him the leagues highest yards per return of any player who has at least 10 punt returns. 

The Jaguars clearly took advantage of a Colts’ team that was not ready to play a full game of football as they scored 42 second half points. Against the Falcons, the Jaguars offense needs to keep rolling as the Jaguars’ defense will likely not be so stifling against “Matty Ice” and the ultra talented Julio Jones. Similarly to last week, if the Jags' defense can do anything productive, then the Jaguars will likely win the ball game.

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The Jaguars are mathematically in the hunt, but they will need some help going forward. They need to win out and have just a little bit of luck to sneak into the postseason. There is still hope guys!